[eBook] The Cycle of Beauty: Lifetime After Lifetime Revised Edition

[eBook] The Cycle of Beauty: Lifetime After Lifetime Revised Edition

Introduction

Master Cheng Yen told stories from the Buddha’s time and instances from daily life. This book includes three parts:

In part one of this book, “The All-Pervasive Heart,” a young child deposits coins in a piggy bank every day in order to “help Grandmaster build the hospital.” In this child’s young heart, a window of love is opened, and as she grows up, the goodness in her heart will continue to grow.

In part two of this book, “Self-Refinement,” there is a story from the Buddha’s time about an elder who asked the Buddha how to eliminate illness. The Buddha told him, “If one’s mind remains well even when one’s body is sick, one can achieve liberation from the pain of illness. Unenlightened beings are all afflicted by the Five Aggregates (form, feeling, perception, action, and consciousness). Once we fall ill, our lives become enshrouded by pain and fear. If we can fully understand that our body is merely an illusory form, and that aging, illness, and death are natural, our bodily suffering will not be as intense.”

About Author

Dharma Master Cheng Yen was born in 1937 in a small town in Taichung County, Taiwan. When she was twenty-three years old, she left home to become a Buddhist nun, and was instructed by her mentor, Venerable Master Yin Shun, to work “for Buddha’s teachings, for sentient beings.” In 1966, she founded a charity, which later turned into the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, to “help the poor and educate the rich”—to give material aid to the needy and inspire love and humanity in both givers and recipients.


In recent years, Master Cheng Yen’s contributions have been increasingly recognized by the global community. In 2011, she was recognized with the Roosevelt Institute’s FDR Distinguished Public Service Award and was named to the 2011 TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people. In 2014, she was presented with Rotary International’s Award of Honor in recognition of her humanitarian efforts and contributions to world peace.